if they adopt the 12 team, and the highest ranked conf champs, plus next highest ranked 6 teams, and what conference they are from doesn't matter, then how they rank you matters.

Will it be more of the same, ie playing ranked teams doesn't hurt you much if you lose but winning it matters. So you will see strong push to have most of your conference mates ranked high to start the season. Play a bunch of cupcakes outside of the conference.

or will they stress road wins against other major players?

how can you structure the "rankings" to insure your big dogs get their top 4 teams into the top 12 every year?